Dan Hodges is a former Labour Party and GMB trade union official, and has managed numerous independent political campaigns. He writes about Labour with tribal loyalty and without reservation. You can read Dan's recent work here

Ed Miliband crashes on The World at One. Voters have decided they don't like him, so why is Labour pushing him just before the elections?

Ed Miliband’s just done an interview on The World at One, in which he basically got taken apart by Martha Kearney. How long would Labour’s proposed cut in VAT be in place, she asked. “For about a year”, he answered. About a year? What the hell does that mean? Eleven months? Ten months? A decade?

“How would you find the funding for the VAT cut?” she asked, not once but twice. Ed couldn’t answer.

What would Ed’s priority be as Prime Minister, she probed. Growth to lower the deficit, he replied. “But you would borrow more,” Kearney hit back. Ed didn’t really have a response. Probably because he would.

The Labour Party has got an odd strategy for managing Ed Miliband at the moment. Earlier today I watched the party’s latest party political broadcast. It’s all Ed. Ed on a train, (inevitably). Ed on his People’s Pallet. Ed pointing at startled onlookers and shouting “Hello sir!!!”

It’s not actually a bad video. But the problem is it’s got Ed Miliband in it. And Ed Miliband isn’t an asset to his party at the moment, he’s a liability.

The polls are quite clear. Ed Miliband’s approval ratings are sliding. Indeed, the most recent ICM poll recorded the worst ratings since he was elected Labour leader.

So why is Labour putting Ed at the heart of the Labour’s campaign? Whatever you think of him, no one can plausibly argue he’s a political asset at this point in time.

For me there are only three credible explanations.

Explanation One: Labour is going to get the nation to love Ed, or die in the attempt. It’s a strategy of sorts. But the immediate priority is next Thursday’s local elections. Thousands of seats are up for grabs. And the more Labour wins, the better it is for Ed, or them. So why not hit the Tories where it hurts? What happened to this big 50p tax campaign Labour was supposed to be running, for example? Surely the last image Labour wants in voters' minds as they head to the polling booth is Ed Miliband telling them: “Everywhere I go people are fed up”.

Explanation Two: Ed’s people genuinely don’t know Ed’s a liability. This may sound daft, but it happens. You become part of a tight political circle. You develop an attachment. People know you work for Ed Miliband, so they’re more likely to stress the positives than say: “You know your man is crap, don’t you?” Over time a rosy – and entirely false – picture emerges. You start taking decisions based on anecdote and wish fulfillment, rather than evidence.

Explanation Three: Ed’s people know he’s a liability, but they don’t want to tell him. Again, it may sound unlikely, but it’s possible. Despite what many activists and outsiders think, Ed Miliband’s inner circle remains dysfunctional and divided. His dislike of hierarchies and rigid structures (like most politicians, Miliband is a terrible manager) means factions develop easily, and individual staffers compete for attention and status. In an environment like that, it’s harder for people to confront the boss with a few unwelcome home truths.

One thing's for certain: the strategy being pursued isn’t going to work. Miliband has been Labour leader for well over two years now, and most voters have taken as close a look at him as they’re going to. And they’re not overly impressed.

Opinions can be changed. But it’s going to take more that a few party political broadcasts of Ed on a train, a pallet or in a market square. It’s going to take a lot, lot more.